The NFL Injury Report found in many newspapers might soon bejoined by another agate entry: The NCAA Miscreant Bulletin. Thefirst weeks of the college football season were almost assignificant for who was kept out of action for breakingrules--their teams', the NCAA's or society's--as for who tookthe field. Scanning last Saturday's lineup from the top of thepolls, we see:

--Florida State was without four players, notably safety RobertHammond (breaking team rules) and cornerback James Colzie (barfight).

--Miami--what would this category be without a fewHurricanes?--played minus running back Danyell Ferguson andreceiver Yatil Green (both suspended for two games for taking anunauthorized limo ride paid for by an agent). Receiver JammiGerman (the limo incident as well as an alleged battery of afellow student) has been suspended for the season. Offensivetackle Ricky Perry has been suspended indefinitely (allegedlybeating up his girlfriend and shoving a gun under a man's chinduring a dispute over money).

--USC tailback Delon Washington served the second game of athree-game suspension for unspecified NCAA rules violations.

--Northwestern played without cornerback Hudhaifa Ismaeli(undisclosed violation of team rules) and linebacker Don Holmes(convicted of misdemeanor theft and suspended for the season).

--Clemson, which has had nine football players arrested sinceFebruary, played without running back Anthony Downs and widereceiver Antwuan Wyatt, who were kicked off the team this summerfollowing arrests for intent to distribute marijuana, andreceiver Tony Horne, who was charged with assault afterallegedly punching a student.

--Louisville offensive linemen Jeryl Tyson and Ikem Maduaka-Cainhad their scholarships revoked (felony charges of traffickingand possessing marijuana). The allegations against Tyson weredropped, and his scholarship has been restored, but it'sunlikely he will rejoin the Cardinals this season. Maduaka-Cainis still facing charges.

All these players would make up a good team, but they wouldstill need a coach. Here are three possibilities. Charlie Taaffehas been suspended by the Citadel because of a drunk drivingarrest, his second in three years. Prairie View A&M's HensleySapenter Jr., who has been around for 12 of the Panthers'NCAA-record 59 losses in a row, has been suspended while theschool investigates the charge that he knowingly fieldedineligible players. A final possibility is CalState-Northridge's Dave Baldwin, who drew a reprimand for lyingto the administration about why running back Shayne Blakey willmiss the season. Baldwin said Blakey had an appendectomy, but hewas actually shot at a party during an argument over a covercharge. Said Baldwin, "I'm a disgrace to myself."

PARCELLS DON'T PREACH

After an opening-game 24-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins, NewEngland Patriots coach Bill Parcells complained, as he does fromtime to time, about "prima donna players." An intern in thePatriots public relations department, however, interpretedParcells's irritation to be directed at "pre-Madonna players"and wrote that on the postgame quote sheet. Our suspicion isthat Parcells likes post-Madonna players even less.

WELCOME HOME

Josia Thugwane's long run, it seems, is not yet finished.Thugwane, the 5'2", 99-pound maintenance worker from theKoornfontein coal mines whose inspired stretch drive in theAtlanta marathon made him South Africa's first black Olympicgold medalist, returned home last month to find himself thetarget of a rumored murder plot. Before leaving for the Games,Thugwane, 25, earned about $250 a month tending roads at themines and lived with his wife and four children in a tin shackin the impoverished black settlement of Bethal. His victorybrought him a bonus of $33,000 from the government and a newMercedes, as well as several sponsorship offers, and upon hishomecoming, friends warned him that local criminals wereplanning to rob and kill him. Thugwane, who in March had beengrazed in the jaw by a bullet when he was the victim of acarjacking, took the warnings seriously. "I don't know who theyare," he told the Johannesburg Star. "But if they say they willkill someone, they always do."

Thugwane has moved his family into a protected house on themines' property and now travels with a government bodyguard."The people in the township are saying I no longer want to beassociated with them," he says. "They think I'm rich now. I fearfor my wife and children. I don't care where I live. I just wantto be safe."

Thugwane's plight is tragically representative of the new SouthAfrica. Apartheid is gone, but poverty and resentment remain,and a spiraling crime rate is transforming the nation into themost murderous society in the world. Thugwane's victory has beenhailed around the world as a symbol of hope and renewal forSouth Africa, but as the runner points out, "Medals won't matterto me if I'm dead."

A HANDS-ON GUY

It's nice to see that Pat Croce, once a physical therapist andnow the president of the hapless Philadelphia 76ers, hasn'tforgotten his roots. Before a recent Jimmy Buffett concert inCamden, N.J., just across the river from Philly, Croce wentbackstage to greet the tequila-tippling rocker, at which pointBuffett complained of a sore neck. No problem, said Croce, whobuilt his Sports Physical Therapists company into a $40 millionbusiness. He gave Buffett a 30-minute going-over, which Buffettrepaid during the concert by eschewing his traditional Hawaiianshirt for a 76ers jersey.

Before the following night's concert, when Buffett again feltthe need for helping hands, Croce was on vacation at the NewJersey shore--wasting away in his own Margaritaville, if youwill. But after being contacted by Buffett, he made the 150-mileround trip to work on the singer. "I don't get much practiceanymore," says Croce, who has never been held back by lowself-esteem, "but I told Jimmy he deserved the best."

THE TIES THAT BIND

When forward Tim Thomas, a blue-chip recruit out of Paterson(N.J.) Catholic High, signed his national letter of intent, onMay 6, to play at Villanova, many figured it was only a matterof time before Jim Salmon, Thomas's high school coach, joinedthe Wildcats' coaching staff. In his newsletter dated June 27,recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons predicted that Salmon would behired by Villanova. Gibbons also said that Salmon would bebrought on board only after the summer evaluation period hadended, thus allowing Salmon to roam the summer circuitunfettered by NCAA rules regarding contact between collegecoaches and players.

Though that's exactly what came to pass--Salmon was named aVillanova assistant on Aug. 23--Wildcats coach Steve Lappasinsists there was no quid pro quo in his recruitment of Thomasand his hiring of Salmon, who is also Thomas's cousin. Nor doeshe see a problem in having waited until the end of the summer tomake the hire. Says Lappas, "Are we supposed to hold it againstsomeone because he coached a good player?"

No. But the hiring of Thomas certainly raises the specter ofimpropriety. Bringing in a coach who is close to a star recruitis a time-honored tradition; consider these recent examples:

--In 1983 Larry Brown, the Kansas coach at the time, hired EdManning, a former pro player with no coaching experience.Manning's son, Danny, signed with the Jayhawks soon thereafter.

--Michigan's success in the Fab Five era can largely be tracedto Steve Fisher's 1991 hiring of Detroit Southwestern's PerryWatson, who coached Jalen Rose in high school and had ties withDetroit native Chris Webber. Both players signed with theWolverines.

Lappas is not the only one to employ such tactics this summer.In early August, Pittsburgh coach Ralph Willard hired TroyWeaver, whose only coaching experience had been with an AAUprogram in Washington, D.C. Weaver had several Division Iprospects in his program, including 6'9" senior Attila Cosby,whom he helped place at Oak Hill Academy, a school in Mouth ofWilson, Va., known for its basketball talent, and who suddenlylooks like a lock for Pitt. Meanwhile, Kentucky vaulted backinto the national-title picture on May 22 when Canadian centerJamaal Magloire signed on Rick Pitino's dotted line. On Friday,Kentucky announced that Simeon Mars, Magloire's high schoolcoach, had been added to the basketball staff as an, ahem,administrative assistant.

None of this is prohibited by NCAA regulations, and perhaps itshouldn't be; the last thing the world of college basketballrecruiting needs is more rules. What it does need, however, is agood deal more restraint on the part of some of its coaches.

FAREWELL, CAM

Cam Neely joined the Boston Bruins in 1986 and proceeded todefine the position of power forward with an intelligent andbrawny style that galvanized Boston Garden, and led Bruinsgeneral manager Harry Sinden to liken Neely's impact on sportsin New England to Bobby Orr's. When Neely retired last Thursdayat age 31, his right hip riddled with arthritis, he closed acourageous 369-goal career that should lead to the Hall of Fame."People talk about his brute strength," says Bruins center AdamOates, who played four seasons with Neely. "But they forgetabout his brain. You don't score that many goals without readingthe ice."

Neely's career was forever altered on May 5, 1991, when hecollided with Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, andSamuelsson drove his knee into Neely's left thigh. The bruisewas so deep it caused Neely's thigh muscles to calcify and ledto knee surgery that limited him to 22 games over the next twoseasons.

Even in a league in which overcoming pain is routine, Neely'sperseverance was legend among his peers. After two years ofintense rehabilitation, he put together one of the mostinspiring seasons in recent NHL history, scoring 50 goals in 49games in 1993-94. His comeback was temporarily thwarted in March'94 when he tore medial collateral ligaments in his right knee.But after surgery Neely gutted out 93 games in his final twoseasons, relying largely on savvy and instinct to score 53goals. The arthritic hip, diagnosed last season, forced him outof action for the last time on Feb. 21.

Soft-spoken and sensitive, Neely had a clubhouse demeanor thatseemed at odds with his hard-crashing ways. "He was quiet, buthe was a presence in every room he was in," says Bostondefenseman Raymond Bourque. "Everyone who played against Cam hadto keep his head up because Cam would crush you and then go inand score a goal. It's going to be real tough this year withoutCam to go to war with. Real tough."

18Hours that wooden target of Art Modell was on Cleveland-areadriving range before being stolen.

OUCH!

Different athletes require different forms of protection fortheir delicate parts. Here are a few of them:

Groin pad--female martial artists.

Chest guard--female boxers.

Banana cup--male ice hockey goalies.

Kidney protection cup--male boxers.

CONVERSATION

Rachel Robinson: Jackie's widow discusses their life together

Long before this month's publication of her book, JackieRobinson: An Intimate Portrait, Rachel Robinson had wanted tochronicle her life with her husband, Jackie. "I tried to do abook in the 1980s, but I couldn't find the voice," Rachel says.She found it poring over thousands of family photographs,eloquent images that span the years from her first date withJackie, in 1941, to the October day in '72 when she wept at hisgrave. "Going through the pictures, I was struck by the richnessof the life we had."

Amazingly to Rachel--a vital, intelligent woman and thelifeblood of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which providescollege scholarships to minority students--more than half acentury has passed since she was at UCLA, studying to be a nurseand being courted by Jackie. "We were young and in love," saysRachel, "and though we didn't know what we would do, we wereconfident. We thought Jack might coach high school. But we knewthat would have been settling; we wanted to go beyond that."

Jackie, of course, went where no one had gone before when in1947, as a Brooklyn Dodger, he became the first black to playmajor league baseball in this century. It was Rachel's supportthat helped him endure the racism that might have broken alesser man. "We had an overriding feeling that there was a goalwe needed to reach," says Rachel. "That helps you transcend theobstacles in front of you."

In '56 Jackie ended his baseball career and confronted lifeafter the game. "One reason we didn't feel so bad about baseballending was the civil rights movement," says Rachel. "Jack had achance to help a great cause." He did that by speaking out onracial issues and--with Rachel, then a nurse at NYU, at hisside--involving himself in politics. "People remember him as anaggressive player coming down the third base line and as a manof courage and determination," says Rachel. "But I also rememberhis enormous capacity to love. Jack's devotion to me was sounusual. It enabled me to develop into the person I am." --K.K.

THIS WEEK'S SIGN THAT THE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US

Two seniors on the football team at Mather High in Chicagodedicated last Friday's 40-6 victory over Young High to formerteammate Yarmo Green, who is serving a 40-year sentence forattempted murder.

THEY SAID IT

Mike TysonHeavyweight boxing champion, explaining why, after readingTolstoy novels during his three-year prison term, he now readscomic books: "I'm not as deep and complicated as people think."